Banks cap upper limit for withdrawals at micro ATMs

Waive switching fees till December 2015

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Banks have firmed up the upper limit on withdrawals at micro automatic teller machines (ATMs) at Rs 10,000 as part of rules  governing small transactions, especially under financial inclusion.

They will levy an interchange fee of Rs 2 for withdrawal up to Rs 2,000 per transaction. The charge will rise to Rs 15 per withdrawal for amount between Rs 5,001 and Rs 10,000.

Banks will not levy interchange fee for non-financial transactions at micro ATMs. The switching fees have been waived up to December 2015, subject to review. The rates and rules are applicable for cash withdrawals using a card at micro ATMs.

Bankers said the cost of deployment of a micro ATM is lesser than that of an ordinary ATM. National Payments Corporation of India and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) worked with banks to decide interchange and switching fees.

Micro ATMs are similar to point of sale (PoS) terminals but are so called as the handheld devices are used by business correspondents to accept deposits and dispense cash.

There are about 1,24,000 ATMs. Of these, 54,000 units are Aadhaar-enabled and 8,000 are enabled for RuPay cards. As a step to broad-base the transaction infrastructure, there is a need to upgrade ATMs.

Bank executives said the task is to upgrade, replace and purchase new units so that those with RuPay cards can also do transactions. The entire process is expected to be cost about Rs 200 crore. Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) could also chip in, said a public sector bank executive.

The existing operating norms and dispute management system applicable for an ATM transaction on National Financial Switch will be applicable to micro ATM cash withdrawals.  For interface of business correspondents, banks might decide on ceiling amount of transactions at micro ATMs in business correspondent locations, depending on their policies.

Bank could provide training to business correspondents for supporting card and pin-based transactions in interoperable environment. Bank could also sensitise business correspondents about the risk associated and mitigations.